Strange Dreams
by Steph-Schell
Summary: What if the characters became real?


Wes Hinkley groaned

If you wanted the best pilot in the galaxy you called on Wes Hinkley. He was always happy to brag about his accomplishments and tell you that none could beat him. But at the moment he was very tired. And very pissed off. He had just finally fallen asleep when bright light hit his eyes, waking him up. "Fine, fine," he growled, "I'm up already." He opened his eyes, fully ready to snap at whoever was disturbing his rest when he realized he was no longer in his room. "What the hell?" he murmured. He was now sitting at a concrete table with people dressed in polo shirts and shorts. The bright light was the sun as it was daytime here and he was out side. Before he could ask what was going on, a girl shook him.

"Come on Nate," she said. Wes noticed she had a name tag that read Kim on it. "If you don't get a move on you'll be late. It's time to clock in."

"Nate?" he asked

"Yeah, that's your name," she said, "Now come on."

Wes smirked at the girl. She was fairly pretty after all. He figured this was some kind of prank by the guys for falling asleep early last night. They probably stuck him in one of the VR generators. He'd pay them back later. For now, it wouldn't hurt to play along. "Well if Nate is who you want me to be, I'm happy to oblige," he said turning on the charm.

"Whatever," she said frowning. "Now move it before we're late." Wes shrugged and followed her. Checking out her ass as they went along, of course. She led him to a granite wall where a bunch of strange boxes were imbedded. She pulled out a card, hit a button and swiped the card. Then she turned to him again. "Aren't you going to clock in?" she demanded.

"Clock in?" Wes asked.

"Yeah, you do want to get paid don't you?" Wes stared at her. "Come, Nate, press in and swipe the card," she said, "Just like it says on the sign." She walked over and tapped a sign above the boxes which stated the same thing she had just told him. "You've been here longer than me, what's wrong with you?"

"Nothing a little 'tutoring' can't fix," Wes said with leer and he grabbed her ass. Kim shrieked and slapped him. Hard. "God damn," he cursed holding his cheek. Kim tossed her head, stood up tall, and walked off. Wes looked at her ass one more time before shaking it off. It wasn't the first time he'd been slapped. He didn't bother swiping a card. Mostly cuz he didn't think he had one. There was line of people trying to get in and a guard checking bags but it was easy to slip by all of it.

"Wes Hinkley!" a voice called from behind him. _Finally, _he thought, _Someone who actually knows my name._ He turned to see a girl with long blonde hair and glasses jogging up to him. "Brilliant job in the movie Nate," the girl giggled. "I absolutely loved it. Though when Angela died, the captain's wife? I thought that was a little contrived. Personally, it would have been better if it was closer to after the vow renewal but that's my humble opinion and lord knows I don't know movies and all that. But the whole almost Shakespearian tragedy of the thing was pretty awesome. And kinda creepy. But you were great in it."

"In what?" Wes demanded. "And how do you know Angela?"

The girl stared at him. "Um, in the movie dude. Nate, are you alright?"

"For the hundredth time, I'm not Nate. I'm Wes. Wes Hinkley. And who the hell are you?"

"Aw, Nate you don't remember your work wife?" she said, "I'm a little hurt. Any way, is this some kind of promotion for Dark Ops? Running around pretending to be Wes. Are any of the other people coming in? Could be a good way to get the word out."

"Work wife?" Wes demanded. "I ain't stupid enough to get myself tied down to anyone. Especially a mouthy blonde like you."

"Oooh we're in a bad mood today," the girl said, taking no real notice of Wes's temper. "I noticed you pissed Kim off too. What's up with that? Misery loves company or whatever?"

Wes shook his head. This girl was so all over it was hard to keep up with her. Then something she had said clicked with him. "What were talking about, 'Angela's death? Angela's fine. In fact, she's going to the vow renewal today."

"Of course she is," the girl said in placating tone.

Before either could talk more there was a shout of "Stephanie!" behind them. The girl turned with a grin on her face and hugged a boy that came up to them.

"John George!" she said happily. "What are you up to?"

"Working like everyone else. What about you?" John laughed. He turned to Wes. "Nate, shouldn't you be heading down to the arcade?" he asked.

"Oh I'm here because my husband screwed up my schedule and now I'm working 2-10 on Friday when I'm supposed to see the Doctor." They smiled as though there was something funny about that sentence. "And also cuz I got a room on campus again and he's supposed to come visit me." Stephanie looked at Wes as well. "This one is either seriously insane or doing a promo for Dark Ops. He keeps saying he's Wes Hinkley."

"I _am _Wes Hinkley," he yelled.

Steph turned back to John. "See?"

"Nate, are you feeling okay?" John asked.

"Stop it with the damn name," Wes growled.

"Dude, relax," Steph said with a laugh, "You can ease up on the whole promo thing. If you don't, you'll end up ticking more people off."

"Stop talking like this is an act," Wes growled.

"Relax Nate," John said looking a little nervous, "It's all cool."

"Yeah, no need to bite our heads off," Steph said.

"I'm going to do more than that if you don't stop calling me Nate," Wes growled.

"Did you overdose on that bong from the movie again?" Stephanie snapped.

"It's a hookah," he snapped and folded his arms. Most people backed down when he got that tone. At least most people who didn't know him anyway. Stephanie however matched him look for look.

"You know full well I don't back down," she said slightly haughty. "So don't pull that bullshit with me." Wes raised his hand but Steph stuck her tongue out at him.

"Bitch," he muttered. Steph glared at him. Then she pulled her arm back and smacked him on the head. Wes realized she must have hit him very hard because everything went black

ENDING I

"Nate! Nate!" The voice sounded very far away. "Nate, come on!" It was getting closer now. Finally a loud yell in his ear broke through Nathan's fog and jumped in his seat. Unfortunately that meant that he fell backward and hit his head on the pine box right behind him.

"God damn it!" he yelled.

"Ohmigod, Nate, are you okay?" someone cried.

"Where the hell am I?" he slurred.

There was a person there helping him up and he realized that he was in the 3A office. He must have been sleeping or something and that was why he banged his head. And he also realized that the person helping him up was Kim. "Thanks," he said rubbing the back of his head. "God that hurts," he whined. He blinked his eyes at the bright light in his room.

"Do you need to go to First Aid?" Kim asked in a concerned voice.

"No," he said, "I'm fine. What the hell happened?"

"You were supposed to be doing schedules and you fell asleep," Kim told him. "I woke you up because Steph is outside and she wanted to talk to you."

"Fell asleep?" he asked. "Damn, that was one weird dream."

"Dream?"

Nate looked back up at her. "Never mind, she still out there?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Be back in a sec." Nate went outside and saw Steph leaning against Rage in the Cage, listening to head phones. He taped her on the shoulder and she spun around with a smile. "You wanted to talk about schedules right?"

"Yeah, see-"

"I scheduled 2-10 on a Friday instead of your usual 12-8," Nate said remembering his dream.

"Oh, good you caught it. I was worried I'd miss my Doctor's appointment. Also"

"You got campus housing again and you want me to come visit. And we can finish our project there right?"

Steph stared at him. "Now you're just freakin me out," she said "How did you know that. I just found out today."

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," he said shaking his head. "I just had the weirdest dream ever."

"I'm always up for a tour of the weird," Steph said.

"I dreamed I was Wes Hinkley. You know the one from the movie?"

Stephanie raised an eyebrow at him. "You are not serious dude."

"Would I lie to you?" he asked.

"You would and you have," she said with a chuckle. "But not about anything important. Did anything cool happen in this dream?"

"I grabbed Kim's ass," he said, "And she slapped me for it."

Steph started laughing. "You did not actually do that," she said.

"Yes I did. It was a little creepy."

"I bet." Steph slid her head phones back in her ears. "You know what all this means don't you?" she asked. Nate shook his head. "You have been working here way too long." With that she began to walk of throwing a peace sign behind her when he said good bye.

ENDING II

"Wes, man wake up!" a voice called. Wes reached up and tried to bat the hand that was shaking him away. "Come on man, if you keep sleeping in we'll both be late."

"Go the hell away," he growled.

"Wake the hell up," someone demanded.

"Fuck off," he snapped.

"Don't make me slap you," the person demanded.

Finally Wes opened his eyes. He noticed that he was sitting at the controls for the tactical station. Same spot he sat in every day for work. The person shaking him was the _Armstrong's_ second-in-command, Dan. Wes was glad he had woken up when he did. A smack from the taller alien would've nearly knocked him out. That didn't stop him from being a little pissy. "Why did you wake me so early?" he whined.

"Because there's a vow renewal in 10 minutes and we both need to get down there now," Dan responded. "What were you doing sleeping up here anyway?"

"I don't know," Wes said, "I guess I never made it to my quarters last night. Had the weirdest dream ever though."

"Wouldn't surprise me. What was it about?"

"I dreamed I woke up in this amusement park and everyone kept calling me Nate. No idea why. There was a hot chick there and a mouthy blonde too."

"Which one of them slapped you?"

"Both of them actually. But that's not the point. We need to get down to the planet." With that Wes pushed the dream out of his head and led the way to the shuttle bay.


End file.
